Tuesday, November 6, 2012

We're offering Loaves & Groups of Baked Goods made with NY flours & ingredients, for weekly pickup and a discount for paying in advance, for our Third Community Supported Bakery Program! Share pickups begin Wednesday January 9 and go through May 22 (20 weeks). 1 loaf per week is $110, 1 group of baked goods is $90 (you may purchase more than one share and choose which items you'd like to receive each week.)

Our enthusiasitic members the past two Winter seasons of our share program proved that people in Albany care about supporting local bread artisans dedicated to using pure ingredients and old-school techniques.

From Barbara C, a member for 2 years:

"We are very happy with your service and products. We all like your bread.

Usually I cannot get our kids to eat anything, but awful, cheap white bread and the fact they are eating yours is a testament to how good it is."

Don't wait, submit your form & payment in the shop or at the Delmar Market by Nov. 30 and we'll give you a free loaf of bread in thanks for becoming an early member!

Why Join a Community Supported Bakery?

We're glad you asked. For some, the idea of a Community Supported endeavor that involves anything other than farm-direct products might seem foreign, but a quick Google search yields about 30 US CSBs currently in action in just the first 4 pages, with more in the UK and otherwise abroad. When we started our first CSB season in 2010, there were only about 8 in the US, this model is growing! Communty Supported shares that provide much more than produce are gaining in popularity all over the country. Here are 5 good reasons to join our CSB.

2) Support for NY grain farmers and our risk developing recipes/techniques that respond to the varying protein levels of their wheat.Every membership will utilize about 25 lbs of NY flour.(We buy North Country Farms Stoneground Wheat & White; although NY grain production is up, the purchase of it by regional bakers is still relatively sparse. NY used to be the country's bread basket, Small, sustainable NY Farmers & Bakers are bringing NY Wheat back. We could buy more reliable flours from the Midwest, but we choose to honor the farmers who are dedicated to producing wheat again here in the Northeast, our CSB gives you a direct way to support them too.) 3) Discounted, carefully produced loaves & pastries for a fair-trade price.

4) Support the talent of Craft Bakers while developing a personal relationship with us. (As owners, Nick & I are extremely involved in our community and donate loaves/gift certificates/food regularly to worthy local causes that help feed the hungry. We work long hours that require great detail and skill. Getting to know more people in your neighborhood is never a bad thing and neither is supporting your local food artisans! Everything we do is connected to people, the CSB brings you closer to your food producers.)

5) Help stabilize and inject money into our local-foods economy and reduction of our collective carbon footprint. Our ingredients are typically grown and transported no more than 130 miles from Albany. We are deeply committed to supporting our slow-food producing neighbors.(North Country Farms is in the Fingerlakes; produce & cheeses are from within 30 miles; only our fair-trade organic sugars, Earth Balance, vanilla, spices, salt, baking powder & soda, Organic oils, NY and Organic flours come from a local/family-owned distributor, Hillcrest Foods in Saratoga or The Honest Weight Food Co-op, Please see our Suppliers Page for more information about our ingredients and philosophy.)

(please click on the link above to order, submit via email or in person)

Our Cinnamon Raisin Sandwich Loaf is perfect for a quick breakfast for guests (toasted or as French Toast or Bread Pudding). Nick's Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Boule, French Baguettes or Dinner Rolls are designed to perfectly compliment your Holiday meals and parties.

Order by Tues. November 13 and Wed. December 16 for pickup Nov. 21 and Dec. 23/24.

We have Capital Region City Dining Cards available for just $20 and we're in the deck!

5% of each purchase goes to the Northeast Regional Food Bank, a powerful organization helping to relieve the hungry in Upstate NY. This deck of 50 cards, worth $500 in discounts, is comprised of only locally-owned restaurants and includes 2 freebie wildcards. Cards expire in December 2013 and offer a $10 discount when you spend $30 on food. They fit into your wallet and make a great stocking stuffer for just about anyone! Get a bonus card of your choice with purchase.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Opening our new shop has been a whirlwind experience and with the Saturday Delmar Farmer Market starting up tomorrow, we expect more of the same! We are very happily ensconced in our new home at 540 Delaware Ave. and we are so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement we've received from all of you. Thank you. We've got some exciting new happenings for the summer to announce!

Phish Always Wins ("THE Summer Tour")

Anyone who knows Nick personally is aware he busts his you-know-what all year long, reserving his time off and limited "fun money" for just a few nights a year to see Phish in nearby cities. He works 12-16 hours a day, 6 days a week and very much deserves this time to nourish his well-being! Our Sous Chef, Lauren Ciaglo, will be filling in for him by baking our loaves while Nick takes his short walkabouts this summer.

"AGB Summer Vendor Tour"

We'll visit six of our local, sustainable suppliers this summer and write up a blog post, with photos and details about production for each, on From Scratch Club! We look forward to helping you get to know our (and YOUR) local food producers! We've updated our suppliers list to show all of the individual vendors with whom we are now working.

Next week we start hosting pickups for R'eisen Shine's year-round, whole diet CSA in the back garden! DJ and Dottie are going to help us grow what we can in barter. They've got a great blog that illustrates the trials and triumphs of farming (follow the link above).

You heard it here first, we are going to start opening earlier during the week! And serving egg sandwiches, as has often been requested. We realized we are missing weekday morning drive-by traffic and the opportunity to provide a hot breakfast for those of you who travel Delaware Ave. on your way to work. We also realize we need to work on being open later (at least some nights) and have plans to do so as soon as we are able. Trust the wheels are turning! We'll keep you posted on when the new menu/hours will begin.

We hope you'll visit us through the summer and get involved in the activities we have planned. We aim to be a good-food-community-hub. I think we're on our way!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Almost exactly two months after signing our new lease, we are ready for a soft-opening at 540 Delaware Avenue on Wednesday at 8am!
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Our new building sign! As soon as the buildling department gives us the go ahead, we'll get it hung.

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So many people have helped us get here, not the least of which is the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region, who helped us shape our business plan and funded our move. We are indebted to everyone who has supported us in a myriad of ways as we have approached this stage of growth. We are coming off the adreneline rush of having accomplished everything required to get the new shop open, and we are ready to begin baking again!

Our regular hours will be Wed-Fri 8am - 3pm and Sat-Sun 9am - 3pm. We've hired two friendly, wonderfully capable people to give us a hand (Liz for front of the house, formerly at Mezzo Marketplace and Lauren who recently graduated from the Culinary Institute as Nick's Sous Chef). Liz and Lauren share our passion for fresh, local, sustainable foods and we are confident they will be very valuable first additions to our work family. Please give them a warm welcome them when you visit!

Our new retail area accommodates 10 seats inside and we'll be adding at least two patio tables outside to start. Nick has created an a-la-carte lunch menu of Six Seasonal Sandwiches (3 grilled cheeses for $5.00 and 3 vegan/vegetarian for $5.50/$6.00) that will also include seasonally-based soup and salads ($2.50-$5). We are sourcing biodegradable, compostable packaging for lunches to go and should get our first shipment within a couple of weeks (till then our ability to package soups and salad to go will be limited). Parking is available in our lot or on the street, we are in the same building as The Yoga Loft, next to Mingle.

"Little Green Monsters"

Our Muffins & Scone varieties will continue to change depending on what's available from our farmers, and we will prepare our Bialys, Cinnamon Buns, Energy Treats and Tartlets daily. Nick will prepare his Soft Pretzels as time allows and our Saturday & Sunday Brunch menu will consist of Croissants (Traditional and Pan Au Chocolat), Quiche with local/seasonal ingredients and our own crust, Savory Bread Pudding, Savory & Sweet Philmores (stuffed croissant dough), likely French Toast and Pancakes, and specialty sides like Seitan Hash (as time goes on, we'll also offer a few other specials Nick has up his sleeve). We'll continue using hyper-local, responsibly sourced ingredients as often as humanly possible and making our own butter every week (hopefully adding biscuits soon - we need to use up that buttermilk on something besides scones!).

Everything we serve will continue to be made fresh, from scratch. And of course, THERE WILL BE BREAD, all of which Nick will prepare himself! We intend to offer daily: Hearty Multigrain, Honey Whole Wheat, Rye (with molasses & caraway), Ciabatta, Country French Sourdough and a Specialty Loaf that we call a "Baker's Pick", which Nick will change up based on inspiration and inclination.

For Beverages, we'll serve regular and decaf fair-trade, organic coffee from Hudson River Coffee House, a small variety of teas, local apple cider and our own fruit waters. We've also added a light weekday breakfast menu of toast and butter/jam/peanut butter, bialys with cream cheese and a kid's menu of a few sandwiches.

Travis from Organica (an organic growing supplies shop on Delaware Ave., next to Ultra Violet) is setting us up with a hydroponic garden in our kitchen (visible from our sidewalk window, take a peek!) where we will grow organic and heirloom herbs and a variety of lettuces, right on the premesis! We're pretty sure no other restaurant in Albany has a hydroponic garden - Travis will be helping us maintain it and he can help you too if you'd like an indoor setup. It's fun growing food, if you haven't tried it we recommend it.

Planting will begin very soon!

We will continue to rent to other small food producers looking to get a leg up. Katherine Hunter from Three Smiles Kitchen will be preparing her new Seitan for us and for the Saturday Delmar Farmers Market. Gatherer's Granola is still with us for a little while while their new production space is readied, and there are a one or two other producers we're in talks with.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will get our staff and organizational processes up to speed and soon after, we'll have a big Grand Opening Party, including a ribbon cutting with the Community Loan Fund! Our street signage should be complete by then and we'll hopefully work out any kinks in operations quickly.

We look forward to seeing you for opening week, starting this Wednesday at 8am! Time to make the butter!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

(Britin here.) We haven't kept up with the blog as much as we would have liked this season, but the lack of time to dedicate to this forum was thankfully filled with an incredible year of growth for AGB. Opening our shop on Quail St. has widened our audience significantly, especially due to Nick's ability to transform simple, fresh (local) ingredients into incredible lunch fare. Everyone who has visited the shop has been very welcoming and enthusiastic, for which we couldn't be more grateful. We've gotten to know a lot of regulars this year - one of my personal favorite aspects of our "job" (it's hard to call it that- we are both really enjoying living the dream).

When we began renting our kitchen on Quail in November 2010, it was for the sole purpose of executing our first Community Supported Bakery season. We didn't intend to open up for retail, but when our landlord (Mark Guido of Guido's Frozen Desserts) said, "You're paying all of the overhead, the lights are on - why not open?", we started thinking seriously about it. Nick and I have worked in restaurants since we were both 15 years old, and met while working in one in '03. Virtually since that day, we started talking about what we would do if we opened our own place. Guido's suggestion rang in our heads all that winter and we took the plunge in April of this year.

Most people in the Pine Hills neighborhood & surrounding Albany have welcomed us with open arms. Business owners, families, neighborhood associations, organizers, beat cops - all of our customers have all been wonderful to get to know and we are grateful for the opportunty to do so. We have participated in every way we can to be good neighbors, highlight the great aspects of the neighborhood and to be advocates for changing what needs improvement. Unfortunately, limited parking, street trash, vandalism and sporadic violence plague the Education District. Although some issues are being addressed, we reluctantly accept that meaningful change is likely to be a long time coming.

By late October, the reality started to sink in that our location on Quail St. just isn't the ideal venue for what we do, and we began entertaining the thought of moving the shop. One major reason is that our rent increased in December. We knew it would happen, we just didn't realize by how much and there's only so much we can produce fresh in our tiny kitchen in order to support the extra overhead. Gatherer's Granola has continued to rent from us three days per week, and has been putting out an enormous amount of granola to local farmers markets and co-ops. They are growing, too, and are looking for a larger production space.
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The retail area at 540 Delaware Ave., still small, but bigger than we have now!

﻿﻿We started working with the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region and contemplated a few spots for a new building. The one that has been calling our names for years, 540 Delaware Avenue, was vacant, and offered a multitude of improvements: Three times the square footage, 10 parking spaces, a slightly larger retail area, reasonable rent, fully-installed fire-suppression system (with fans and hood - a huge expense!), better quality finishes, on a main thoroughfare, accessible to our Delmar customers (but still in Albany) and we could walk to work in good weather! Just last week, we closed on a modest loan with the great folks over at the CLF (big thanks to Lissa, Joe, Walt and the Board!), and LAST NIGHT we signed the lease on 540 Delware Ave.! We've lived in the DelSo neighborhood since moving here in 2003 - having our bakery here will be an absolute dream come true for us. We'll start acquiring equipment and navigating the city permitting process next week. We're hoping to open sometime between mid-February and mid-March, and will operate on Quail St. until then.

We'll be open 5 days per week, add more lunch and breakfast options, hire two staff members, increase our loaf varieties & share programs, and hopefully grow some of our own produce in a kitchen garden out back. We'll continue to use primarily local suppliers, prepare everything fresh, maintain our low-waste practices and hopefully be seeing more of you! We hope making this move will bring positive, measured growth for our bakery and our family - and we couldn't be more excited!!

More detailed information will follow as we progress. We hope you share our enthusiasm!